In September 2023, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the start of a strategic dialogue on the future of agriculture to establish perspectives for a future-proof sector and address growing polarisation. As farmers, agrifood value chain and civil society stakeholders, we fully support the objective of “more dialogue, less polarisation” and want to avoid politicising the process. Ahead of the official launch on 25th January, we call on institutional actors and stakeholders to guarantee a safe, inclusive and constructive environment for the dialogue to facilitate the emergence of a consensus on the transformation necessary for our agriculture and food systems.
Over the last few years, there have been many attempts to oppose visions on agriculture and reduce the agrifood chain to a political playground. At a time when our sustainability transition has already started and must speed up, pitching stakeholders against one another is counterproductive and far from what we aspire to and have started to build.
